Home care aides in most states hovering near poverty line, analysis shows

More and more personal and home care aides (PHCA) are being paid wages that put them at risk of falling below the poverty line, according to a recent salary analysis.

Between 1999 and 2009, wages for PHCA rose from a national median of $7.50 an hour to $9.26 an hour, or roughly 26%. But after adjusting for inflation, real wages were essentially unchanged, according to the updated PHI State Chart Book on Wages for Personal and Home Care Aides. In 2009, wages in 36 states fell below 200% of the federal poverty level, or roughly $10.42 per hour. Workers receiving these wages are eligible for many state and federal public assistance programs.

The PHI Chart Book tracks wages in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and presents an entire decade of data from 1999 to 2009. PHI is a direct-care worker advocacy group.

About 60,000 elderly or disabled Medicaid recipients in Louisiana are being told they should expect to lose their benefits in July, and advocates say more than a quarter of them could be forced out of the long-term care facilities they call home.